During the nineteenth century French opera and its subject
matter ran the gamut from the stars to the gutter. The excesses of grand opera,
with its five acts and interpolated ballet, were mostly concerned with
seemingly important events and people. Even the productions of the
Opéra-Comique were generally set in some unworldly milieu, but Auber’s and
Massenet’s settings of Manon Lescaut brought in the question of immorality, as
did the Italian Verdi’s settings of French subjects in Rigoletto and La traviata.
A more demotic and democratic strain in French literature led to operas such as
Bizet’s Carmen, with its leading characters drawn from the common people, and
Puccini’s La Bohème, which dealt with a French novel and concerned
itself with struggling artists in Parisian garrets. Other Italian composers
such as Mascagni and Leoncavallo (who wrote his own treatment of La Bohème, just as Puccini had done one of Manon Lescaut)
took up this more approachable but also more risqué type of subject. The
working-class and bohemian trend in French opera found its most characteristic
expression in Louise, an opera now remembered for a single aria – indeed, it
could be argued that it is known for one exquisite four-note phrase, with which
the soprano launches that aria, ‘Depuis le jour’. Its composer Gustave
Charpentier lived for almost a century, had his one huge success with Louise
and is now hardly thought of, except when he is confused with his namesake from
the time of Louis XIV. The value of the present recording is two-fold: it shows
how much enjoyable music there is in Louise, apart from ‘Depuis le jour’, and
it preserves near-perfect exemplars of a French style of singing, playing and
conducting that is all but vanished today.

Charpentier,
who had something of a bohemian reputation himself, deserved his one hit, as he
put a great deal of work into it. Humbly born and a late starter in music, he
did not reach the Lille Conservatoire until he was fifteen, and in 1881, when
he was already 21, he entered the Paris Conservatoire on a scholarship. For
Louise he drew on his own experience of living in Montmartre in his student
days, which climaxed when he won the Prix de Rome in 1887. It was during his
obligatory stay in Rome that he began work on Louise, writing the libretto
himself although he also had help from friends. He had some success with
orchestral works and incorporated an occasional work of 1898, the Fête du
couronnement de la muse, into Act 3 of his opera.

Louise
caught the mood of the moment. At its première at the Opéra-Comique on 2nd
February 1900, under the baton of André Messager, it appeared to express the
spirit of the new century that was just dawning. Quite early in the run, both
the original Louise, Marthe Rioton, and her understudy were ailing and at the
eighth performance on 10th April the second understudy, a young Scots soprano
called Mary Garden, had to come on in Act 3 as a replacement for Rioton. She
was a sensation and on 25th April she was able to sing a complete performance.
Charpentier’s working-class heroine had found her ideal interpreter and it is
difficult to say whether Louise made Garden’s reputation or Garden made
Louise’s. ‘Only in Louise was I myself on stage, because she was so like me,’
Garden said. ‘She was a daring sort of character. She lived hard. She believed
in free love. She enjoyed everything about life.’ In 1903 Louise was heard in
both Berlin (with Emmy Destinn) and Vienna (with Mahler conducting). In 1908
the opera reached New York, at the Manhattan Opera with Garden, and in 1909
Louise Edvina sang the title rôle at Covent Garden. A famous production was
that conducted by Arturo Toscanini at La Scala in 1923, with Fanny Heldy and
Aureliano Pertile. Charpentier wrote a sequel, Julien, which was first
performed at the Opéra-Comique on 4th June 1913 and had its American première
on 26th February 1914 at the Metropolitan, where the singing of Enrico Caruso
in the title rôle and Geraldine Farrar as Louise ensured it at least some
success. It never really caught on, however, whereas all the tenors and
sopranos wanted to appear in Louise, and the rôle of the Father attracted such
interpreters as Lucien Fugère, Marcel Journet, Robert Radford, Ezio Pinza and
Nicola Rossi-Lemeni.

The
present recording was one of the potted operas that were popular in the late
1920s and early 1930s. It was presumably thought uncommercial to record the
entire score and so the approval of Gustave Charpentier was sought for an
abridgement. He even assisted in the production. Three of the best French singers
of the day, Ninon Vallin, Georges Thill and André Pernet, all famous exponents
of their rôles, were recruited, along with the distinguished conductor Eugène
Bigot; and the recording was followed up by a film, made by the director Abel
Gance in 1938, in which Thill and Pernet repeated their rôles with the
glamorous Grace Moore as Louise. Sadly on that occasion even more of the music
was cut, although Charpentier coached Miss Moore – staying on the set
throughout the shooting – and the movie was wonderfully atmospheric (it has
appeared on video).

Eugène Bigot, born in Rennes on 28th February 1888, studied
at the Paris Conservatoire with Xavier Leroux, André Gédalge and Paul Vidal. He
began his career as chorus master in the first season of the Théatre des
Champs-Elysées under Désiré-Émile Inghelbrecht (1913-14). During the First
World War he won the Croix de Guerre fighting in the French army. His career
then advanced steadily: the Swedish Ballet (1920-23), Société des Concerts du
Conservatoire ((1923-25), Théâtre des Champs-Elysées (1925-28), French Radio
(1928-34), Monte Carlo (1934-35), Concerts Lamoureux (1935-51), Opéra-Comique
(1936-47). In 1947 he helped to found the French Radio Orchestra and was
associated with it until his death in Paris on 17th July 1965. A composer as
well as a conductor, he left innumerable recordings, and was especially valued
as a concerto accompanist.

Eugénie ‘Ninon’ Vallin was born on 9th September 1886 at
Montalieu-Vercien and studied first at the Lyon Conservatoire, then at the
Paris Conservatoire with Meyriane Héglon, a favourite singer of Saint-Saëns.
Initially Vallin appeared as a concert singer, taking part in the first
performance of Debussy’s Le martyre de Saint Sébastien in 1911. She made her
stage début at the Opéra-Comique in 1912 as Micaëla in Carmen and was soon
regarded as one of the most brilliant sopranos of the day. Debussy accompanied
her in recital and she appeared in many operatic premières. Although her career
was anchored in Paris, she was well known in South America and Italy and made
guest appearances in most other centres. Having retired from opera in 1943, she
continued to give recitals for a time. Later she taught singing. She died on
22nd November 1961 at Millery, near Lyon. Ninon Vallin was a prolific recording
artist and took part in a famous set of Werther with Georges Thill (Naxos
8.110061-62).

Georges Thill was one of the best of a breed once numerous
but now extinct, the French dramatic tenor. Born on 14th December 1897 in
Paris, he studied at the Conservatoire there before going to the Neapolitan
tenor Fernando de Lucia for further lessons. He made his début at the
Opéra-Comique in 1919 as Don José in Carmen and after consolidating his career
in France, began a truly international career in the late 1920s. He was
regarded as equally proficient in French and Italian opera and the lighter
Wagnerian rôles and had an unusually long operatic career, lasting until 1953.
His last concert was given in 1956. This longevity was a tribute to the soundness
of his vocal method, which he passed on to his pupils. He died at Lorgues on
17th October 1984. He made many records, some of them regarded as definitive.

André Pernet was born on 6th January 1894 at Rambervillers
and served in the French army during World War I. He then studied law before
going to the Paris Conservatoire. He made his début at Nice in 1921 as
Vitellius in Massenet’s Hérodiade and then sang in various provincial theatres
before making his Paris Opéra début in 1928. Apart from the 1931-32 season,
when he sang exclusively at the Opéra-Comique after a dispute with the Opéra
management, he was a pillar of both Parisian houses until 1948, also making
guest appearances in Amsterdam, London, Brussels and North America. In 1949 he
retired and he died in Paris on 23rd June 1966. Pernet did not make a large
number of records but he can be heard in a set of Les contes d’Hoffmann as well
as a superb post-war performance of Boris Godunov, sung in French under Ernest
Ansermet’s baton.

Tully Potter

Synopsis

The action takes place in Paris, in ‘the present’.

Act I

A room in a working-class tenement of Louise and her
parents. Through the large open window an artist’s studio can be seen. [1] As
the curtain rises, we hear Julien’s voice from his studio terrace; he is
singing of Paris in the spring and his love for Louise. She appears at her
window and he tells her that he has written to her father asking for her hand
but if her parents do not allow them to marry, she must elope with him. Louise
says that she loves him, but she loves them too. [2] They recall their first
meeting, the objections of her parents and their plans, overheard by Louise’s
mother, who seizes Louise and shuts her in the kitchen and admonishes Julien
through the window. She makes fun of Louise’s and Julien’s words and calls
Julien a drunk and a debaucher. Louise and her mother argue. [3] Her mother is
about to hit Louise when the father enters, tired from his day at work. He asks
about dinner. He is carrying a letter, which he puts on the table without
comment. Louise’s mother begins a conversation about lazy people and the father
agrees, but it does not carry the same bitterness – he and Louise are obviously
fond of one another. Louise asks him to look at the letter, which is from Julien.
Her father is well enough disposed to Julien and does not seem set against his
daughter’s marriage, but her mother is furious, and after some more harsh
words, she slaps Louise. Her father gently asks his daughter to read the paper
to him, but when the subject turns to Paris in the spring, Louise is reduced to
tears, as the curtain falls.

Act II

[4] The scene is a wide street in Montmartre. It is five
o’clock in an April morning. Various street-people come and go, some cleaning,
some setting up stalls to sell their wares, some picking for rags. Eventually
Julien and his friends enter, looking for the seamstress’s shop where Louise
works. The street vendors and workers come and go and Julien again sings of the
glories of Paris. Louise and her suspicious mother arrive. When Julien finally
gets a chance to ask Louise about the reaction to his letter, he argues with
her, accusing her of being too attached to her parents and having no sense of
rebellion and adventure. [5] In the seamstress’s shop, the girls work and sing.
One of them notices that Louise has been crying and suggests that she is in
love. Irma, in particular, tells of her own amorous ambitions. They tease
Louise with paying too much attention to her mother. [6] Soon Julien’s voice is
heard from the street; he is singing about love. This amuses the girls, but
their reactions annoy Louise, who takes her coat and leaves. The girls look out
of the window and see Louise and Julien arm in arm. They laugh in approval.

Act III

[7] The scene is set in a small garden on the side of
Montmartre. Louise sings to Julien about her love for him and her happiness
since they began to live together. [8] In a duet they sing of their mutual
love, the joys of Paris and their rapture at being free. Bohemians, street
people and friends enter the garden and begin decorating, singing and dancing. [9]
Louise is crowned Queen of Bohemia and Muse of Montmartre. Suddenly her mother
appears. She is not interested in quarreling; rather, she tells Louise that her
father is sick and needs her to care for him. She promises Julien that Louise
can return whenever she pleases, and Louise hesitantly leaves.

Act IV

[10] The scene is the same as in the first act, but Julien’s
studio is no longer visible. Louise is still living with her parents, who have
broken their promise that she would be able to return to Julien. Her father is
better but he has lost much of his warmth and is now relentlessly bitter,
complaining about the ingratitude of children. Louise easily picks up on his
true meaning and gazes longingly out of the window at Paris, whereupon her
mother immediately says that they will not consider allowing her to return to
Julien. [11] Her father sings to her and treats her tenderly and for a moment
we remember what a gentle man he was at the start of the opera, but Louise is
clearly very unhappy and she reminds her parents of their promise. [12] She
then affirms her right to be free, as a waltz which was heard during her
liberated period with Julien is heard. It is the voice of Paris itself and Louise
becomes more and more agitated, begging Paris to set her free. Her father
pleads and argues, but Louise’s desire for freedom has become too strong – it
cannot be subdued. Her father, enraged, chases her around the room and then
orders her out of the house. In a burst of joyous desperation, she leaves. Her
father, exhausted, calls after her, but when he realises he has lost her for
ever, he rages against what he sees as the real villain – Paris – as the
curtain falls.